Collections

The Central Office of Information (COI) produced and distributed thousands of films for use across Britain, the Commonwealth and the world. Paid for by you the taxpayer, the films couldn’t have been more varied: documentary, drama, news, animation, comedy -  even horror.

Reality and fantasy collide to extraordinary effect when you bring the inanimate to life, one frame at a time. 

Dreams, memories and reveries - the collected works of one of Britain's most distinctive filmmakers.

Discover a rich history reaching back over a century as we celebrate South Asian communities and culture across Britain.

Film has the power to change lives – and even save them. No surprise, then, that moving images have played an important role in one of the world’s greatest public health services. 

Behind the canvas with a movie camera: you can almost smell the turpentine in these fascinating portraits of artists at work.

"Never work with animals or children," runs the old film industry saw. But British filmmakers have proven adept at both - and especially animals.

13 new short films from new and emerging animators, commissioned through a prestigious initiative by the BFI, BBC Four, and BBC Arts.

An animated portrait of a nation, brought to life frame by painstaking frame

Capturing the beauty and brutality, the magic and madness of rural Britain.

Immerse yourself in the films featured in Paul Wright's captivating archive odyssey.

Behind the canvas with a movie camera: you can almost smell the turpentine in these fascinating portraits of artists at work.

Every generation finds its own beat, and every scene has been caught on camera. This toe-tapping tour guides us through pop's glorious past.

Striking, illuminating and sometimes surprising images of black culture, community and characters, spanning over a century of British film and TV.

A selection of exceptional shorts from filmmakers, curated by S.O.U.L Celebrate Connect founder Iyare Igiehon.

Eleven innovative short films about the digital experience, commissioned by the BFI, BBC Four and BBC Arts to mark the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web in 2019.

Penny Woolcock’s Out of the Rubble is an archive documentary compiled from films digitised for our Britain on Film project. Here we present Woolcock’s work alongside the original films that inspired it.

Pampered pooches or fabulous felines? It’s the eternal popularity contest.

Travel back in time to a lost China with this collection of extraordinary, rare and beautiful travelogues, newsreels and home movies from the first half of the 20th century.

Chart the representation of Britain's Chinese communities in film, from exotic Other to more authentic self-portraits, in a collection of rare, strange, witty and touching films.

It's time to join the ghosts of Christmases past as we celebrate a century of festive film.

Coalmining is visually unique, dramatic, elemental, iconic - and a huge filmmaking challenge. Small wonder that it's the industry with the richest and deepest screen history of all.

Celebrating side-splitting film and TV, from slapstick legends to today's anarchic voices.

Few films capture our hopes, fears and desires in such a compact expressive form as the screen advertisement. 

This diverse and fascinating collection looks at representations of disabled people on screen over the past ten decades. It offers a glimpse into the lives and experiences of people often hidden from screen history, and a chance to see how contemporary disabled artists and filmmakers are insisting that their own images and voices must be seen and heard.

Bring the restaurant to you: gastronomic inspiration for novice cooks and greedy gourmands

Welcome to a lost world. These amazing films, lost for nearly a century, offer something close to time travel - a journey into the Britain of our great grandparents, courtesy of filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon.

Films for kids have changed dramatically over the last 100 years, as seen in this family-friendly collection.

From deep-rooted folk traditions to youth culture happenings: a celebration of the music and arts festivals of summers past.

We present the very best shorts by young filmmakers, produced through the BFI Film Academy.

Watch with grown-ups: a fun selection of films for supervised viewing by 3-5 year olds and the young at heart.

From the home front to the front line: life during the “war to end all wars” as seen through the lens of newsreel, propaganda and drama.

Football and film: two giants of 20th century spectacle. Born just a few years apart, film and the professional game have grown up together, as this fascinating collection shows.

Mischievous mermaids, murderous minors and military mayhem are among the highlights of this collection of long hard-to-see titles.

Explore England’s pioneering planned settlements, from Edwardian utopia to radical postwar housing schemes.

Gothic horror and romance tales feed on our darkest fears and desires, and conjure the creatures of the night into being.

Sandbags and searchlights, firefighters battling blazing streets; trains packed with departing children or servicemen... film has given us some of our most enduring images of war.

Celluloid scrapbooks: the most intimate and personal of films invite us into Britain's birthday parties, back gardens and beach holidays.

An extraordinary collection of films capturing India before independence.

The vibrancy of the Meiji era is revealed in these early films of Japan, restored by the BFI National Archive.

Jewish life on screen: a century of insights and hidden histories

A celebration of Royal Jubilees past, from 1897 to 1977.

Let’s get physical! With over a century of exercise on film, this collection offers some high intensity viewing.

Celebrating 75 years since Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister’s original film, BBC Four and BFI NETWORK, in association with Wingspan Productions, have partnered to offer the next generation of UK filmmakers the opportunity to present their diverse and unique perspectives on modern Britain.

Celebrating 50 years of the LFMC (now Lux), the ground-breaking production and distribution cooperative for artists’ moving image.

A selection of favourite shorts from Europe’s largest South Asian film festival.

Films to fall in love with. Films to break your heart.

The most popular free films that caught your imagination in 2022.

The most popular free films that caught your imagination in 2021.

Bevan, badgers and some very British goings on - your favourites from our collections…

Get crafty, avoid boredom: why not take up a new hobby from the comfort of home?

Mark Kermode's hugely popular film discussion show is now available on BFI Player.

Time Marches On! Though perhaps most famous today for inspiring the opening of Citizen Kane, The March of Time was a truly trailblazing series.

Want to escape our troubled times? Immerse yourself in the emotional, life-enhancing pleasures of the musical.

As election fever grips Britain (or doesn't), we get on our soapbox to present a fascinating collection of political and campaigning films.

An eccentric excursion to the furthest fringes of youth culture and alternative lifestyles, as captured in archive film and TV.

Explore the filmmaking journey of one of Britain’s most acclaimed directors.

From Victorian voyeurism to Soho striptease: how a hidden film industry emerged to satisfy the sexual appetites of (male) viewers.

Stop! Look! Listen! For decades public information films have been educating, persuading and above all warning us of hidden dangers.

Punk’s mad parade burnt bright and quick, feeding on the public’s limitless love of disgust. Works from Julien Temple and Captain Zip immerse you in the movement, with music from The Undertones and more.

This colourful and challenging collection explores screen representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lives over the past century.

HM Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022): A life through the lens.

Showcasing rarely-seen queer cinema from East and Southeast Asia to audiences in the UK.

Tracking shots: cinema and the railways have enjoyed a long journey together, starting in the Victorian era and yet to hit the buffers.

To mark this year's Refugee Week, BFI and Counterpoints Arts have compiled a collection of films that explore refugee experiences in the past and present and across different parts of the world.

The most prolific filmmaker of the pioneer period of British film

Ascend the Himalayan peaks, sail through mighty oceans and traverse thickets of African jungle – all in one extraordinary collection of films.

Take a trip around the blazing worlds of sci-fi as we undock a blockbuster celebration of this most spectacular of movie genres.

All the world's a cinema! How a century and more of filmmakers have raided, remade and refashioned the bard.

Every ship launch is an epic. The majestic glide of the colossus into the waiting waters is a spectacle made for filming.

Football and film: two giants of 20th century spectacle. Born just a few years apart, film and the professional game have grown up together, as this fascinating collection shows.

A salute to the vital workers who keep our essential services running in bad times - and all the time.

With its glowing rivers of liquid metal and dazzling showers of sparks, steelmaking is the most colourfully cinematic of industries.

To accompany an important new BFI book, we chart this extraordinarily fertile area of British film.

"You have to make more noise than anybody else!," cried Suffragette pioneer Emmeline Pankhurst. But how to make more noise in silent film?

From cotton reels to reels of film: with its restless looms, vibrant colours and rich textures, Britain's textiles industry offers cinematic pleasures by the yard.

Who Can You Trust?

From the collections of the BFI and its partner archives, a host of rarely seen British thrillers highlighting Britain's often idiosyncratic take on the genre.

Journey across the planet’s most challenging terrain in this ode to exploration and endurance on film.

A selection of LGBTIQ+ shorts curated by the  London Indian Film Festival.

This collection showcases a selection of hard-to-see features that are unavailable to watch anywhere else (legally) in the UK.

75 years ago, Britain threw itself a party. After six gruelling years of war, it had earned it.

Queen Victoria's long reign famously saw extraordinary advances: in industry, transport, science, culture... But one vital innovation is too often missed: the moving image, the last great invention of the age. Yet film forever changed the way we see the world. And even before the French Lumière brothers presented their first demonstrations in London in 1895, British filmmakers were beginning to make their mark. Now, for the first time, we are making publically available all of the BFI's collections of British films made in the first six years of the medium - from 1895 to 1901.

Fancy a swift half? This round of Britain's drinking establishments is on us.

It's the big day and you're invited: a multitude of marriages, caught on film since the 1910s.

What’s that Film?! If you’ve a taste for the curious or the kitsch, the bewildering or the bizarre, then look no further. Our selection of rare archive treats will satisfy the most adventurous palate.